CHICAGO - Political fundraiser Antoin "Tony" Rezko should remain behind bars because there is still a danger that he will flee to avoid his upcoming fraud trial, federal prosecutors told an appeals court Friday.

The 52-year-old real estate developer and fast-food magnate is a naturalized U.S. citizen but has retained his Syrian nationality, prosecutors said in a 22-page brief filed with the appeals court.

Rezko, who has been a major fundraiser for Sen. Barack Obama and Gov. Rod Blagojevich, is asking the appeals court to free him from the Metropolitan Correctional Center where he has been held since Jan. 28.

He is due to start trial March 3 on charges that he schemed with millionaire attorney Stuart Levine to shake down companies seeking business or regulatory approval from a pair of powerful state boards.

Rezko had been free on $2 million bond. But U.S. District Judge Amy J. St. Eve ordered him jailed after it was disclosed that he received a $3.5 million loan from London-based Iraqi billionaire Nadhmi Auchi.

She said his access to overseas money made him a flight risk.

Prosecutors pointed to St. Eve's ruling that Rezko misled her when he told her his share in a 62-acre tract of undeveloped land just south of downtown Chicago could not be turned into cash to help secure his bond.

He had also told St. Eve in a Jan. 16, 2007, meeting in her chambers that he had no expectation of receiving any money from overseas.

"Three months after Rezko testified that he had no expectation of receiving funds from overseas, $3.5 million was wired from Lebanon by his business partner, General Mediterranean Holdings, for Rezko's benefit into an account held by Rezko's civil attorneys," federal prosecutors said.

General Mediterranean, which is Rezko's partner in the 62-acre tract, is based in Luxembourg and headed by the London-based Auchi.

After the money went into account held by the civil attorneys, Rezko funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars from the wire transfer to his wife, child and individuals who had helped to post bond, prosecutors said.

The money represented an advance to Rezko for a portion of his interest in the 62-acre property sold in July 2007 for $28.3 million, the government said. They said that in December he signed an agreement to sell his remaining shares in the property to Auchi for an added $4 million.

"In sum, the court found that Rezko lied under oath," prosecutors said.

Prosecutors brushed aside Rezko's claim that because he is being held in jail he is unable to confer adequately with his defense attorneys. They said that many other defendants find themselves in jail before trial.

And they pointed out that St. Eve has set aside time for Rezko to confer with his lawyers in the courthouse.